Daily Prayer Books

I’m old-fashioned enough to appreciate pages, bookmarks, and technology which doesn’t rely on electricity and a web connection! So here are some printed office books (often called breviaries).

The Divine Office
The Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours) is the official prayerbook of the Roman Catholic church. It is a monster, weighing in at 3 volumes but it does contain the Office of Readings (including the readings themselves) as well as Morning, Midday, Evening and Night Prayer. The 3 volumes are:

Fortunately, there are shorter versions available:
Daily Prayer (Morning, Evening & Night Prayer as well as Office of Readings for major festivals)
Morning & Evening Prayer (includes Night Prayer)
Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer (omits special services for saints days – a very handy book and a good starting point).

Daily Prayer
Common Worship: Daily Prayer is from the Church of England and is used in many parishes. It is in contemporary English and contains Morning Prayer, Prayer During the Day, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer.

For those traditionalists among you, the Book of Common Prayer is still widely used and is – of course – the official prayer book of the C of E.

Benedictine Daily Prayer
For those who wish for a more monastic flavour, as well as more short services for the day there is a recent breviary published by an American monastery. It contains a rich mixture of the services, hymns and psalms and represents something that will last. It might be daunting at first, but well worth the investment in time.
The Monastic Diurnal
Leatherbound and produced by St Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough, this is a:

“republication of the 1963 edition of the Benedictine hours of Prime, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, in Latin and English in parallel columns for all the feasts and seasons in the traditional Benedictine calendar, with an updated table of movable feasts and a Benedictus/Magnificat card. The Latin text is the traditional Vulgate psalter. Ideal for novices, monks and nuns when travelling, Benedictine oblates, guests at monasteries, and all who wish to draw upon the riches of the ancient and traditional Benedictine office. Printed in black and red throughout and bound in real Moroccan leather with a flexible cover, gilt edges and six marker ribbons, this is a truly beautiful book.”

Celtic Daily Prayer
This is produced by the Northumbria Community and has caught on amongst Baptist Ministers! From their website:

“This 838 page book is ‘the heartbeat’ of the Northumbria Community, containing:

• the Daily Office (Morning, Midday and Evening Prayer)
• a Compline for each day of the week
• a Meditation for each day of the month
• 2 years of Daily Readings and Meditations
• liturgies and prayers for a wide range of personal circumstances, times of life and times of year
• calendar and resources for Saints’ Days

This book is used not only by Companions and Friends in the Community but many others, all round the world, have found it a very helpful regular or occasional daily companion.”

Celebrating Daily Prayer
This is an Anglican Fransiscan book which was very influential in the forming of the C of E Daily Prayer book. From Amazon:
“Whilst retaining all the essential features of the full office book, Celebrating Daily Prayer condenses Common Worship Daily Prayer into a user-friendly, portable format, ideal for personal use. The main features of Celebrating Daily Prayer are the integration of the Psalms and Collects into the office setting and the inclusion of a short reading for each day, making this edition particularly suitable for personal prayer”.

What do I use?
A few people asked what I use for daily prayer. I don’t really use one book, but more of a mixture. For the Office of Readings I use the Catholic Divine Office. For Morning, Evening and Night Prayer I use the Anglican Daily Prayer (Morning Prayer) and the Book of Common Prayer (Evening Prayer and Night Prayer). For the ‘day hours’ I use the Monastic Duirnal.

What would I recommend?
If you are a member of a denomination which produces a Daily Prayer resource (ie Catholic or Anglican) I would suggest you use that. It is a way of uniting you to others in your tradition and is designed to supplement the Sunday Services.

If you aren’t, then I would go for Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer as it is pretty straightforward to use, cheap and pocket-sized.